Essential Guide
The right systems management tool frees up time for the important work
An IT admin's days get eaten up quickly. With the right use of a systems management tool, admins can spend more time on new projects rather than maintaining the incumbent ones.
Introduction
An IT admin spends much of the day working to keep the business afloat and avoid costly, headache-inducing outages. In fact, research shows that these keeping-the-lights-on duties can consume 80% of an admin's time. The right combination of systems management tools can automate many of those troublesome tasks and free up time for staff to focus on valuable and underserved areas of the IT operation.
Systems management tools can assist with tasks such as asset discovery, virtualization management, performance monitoring and predictive analytics. Not only can a systems management tool reduce the time an admin devotes to keeping the lights on, but it can discover potential problems before they pop up.
There are plenty of options in the market, including open source systems management tools. The open source option was once preferred solely for its zero cost, but is now often seen as an equally effective choice.
1Put tools to use-
Uses for systems management tools
Using a systems management tool may take only a few moments at a time, but it can save many hours when done properly. From handling updates and raising alerts to keeping an eye on predictive trends, systems management tools can serve many purposes, so choosing one depends on the particular needs of an organization's development and IT teams. The market features plenty of vendors, all of which have varying strengths and weaknesses.
Systems management tools make life simpler
Research shows well over half of an IT budget is spent simply maintaining existing systems. The right IT systems management tool can automate many of those tasks. Continue Reading
Factors to consider when picking tools
There are more systems management tools than ever. Do you need more granularity, or less control? Perhaps you need alerts? Consider these tips before making a commitment. Continue Reading
Top attributes of systems management tools
The practical uses of IT systems management tools can be organized into five key groups: discovery, provisioning, reporting, maintenance and troubleshooting. Continue Reading
Put your IT monitoring tools together
With businesses often having multiple tools in use to monitor various functions, some IT shops choose to integrate the IT monitoring tools under an umbrella product. Continue Reading
Monitoring crucial in DevOps shops
A continuous deployment environment means admins need to know immediately when something isn't working. There is no shortage of tools to provide alerts, including several emerging options. Continue Reading
IaC simplifies hybrid, multicloud management
The infrastructure as code model adds a layer where an admin can describe the deployment in a hybrid or multicloud environment. Apps get deployed to an abstract hosting model, then IaC fits it to the cloud configuration being used. Continue Reading
2Open source options-
Open source options expand system management possibilities
Once upon a time, using an open source systems management tool was admitting that there weren't funds available to get something better. Now that the open source options have improved, IT admins can look to open source for quality as well as cost.
Discover open source management tools
Some open source IT systems management tools are well-known, such as Nagios or logstack, but others have popped up more recently, including Docker. Going open source means not being tied to a particular vendor, but it also means doing without vendor support. Continue Reading
Open source configuration management tools led by Chef, Puppet
Configuration management is one part of systems management, and notable open source tools in that area include Chef and Puppet, although there are other open source offerings available. These tools help with cloud automation and orchestration. Continue Reading
Consider your goals with mobile options
Keep in mind that some mobile device management tools are more nimble than others. If you just want a free one, those options are available. But if your business needs customizable code to meet specific needs, you'll want to look at other tools. Continue Reading
Know when to automate
Open source software has helped make automating the DevOps pipeline from application development on a laptop to deployment into a production data center environment more realistic. Still, that doesn't mean everyone should be doing it. Continue Reading
PDF: Are you migrating to DevOps?
As DevOps is slowly taking over the IT landscape, its vital that IT pros understand it before jumping right into the movement. In this complimentary guide, discover an expert breakdown of how DevOps impacts day-to-day operations management in modern IT environments.
3Virtual reality tools-
Systems management tools can make a virtual environment palatable
Server virtualization has proven successful, and adding the right tools can make it even more effective. What users want from those tools, however, varies from business to business.
Avoid VM sprawl with management tools
A hypervisor will provide basic tools to manage the host servers and the VMs on it. But virtualization systems management tools will allow admins to go beyond the services of those basic tools. Continue Reading
Price, functions top decision factors for virtualization tools
Businesses don't need to be told twice to look for savings, and it often comes in the IT department. A TechTarget survey shows that price is a heavy factor in decisions on virtualization systems management tools. Continue Reading
Increase agility with the right tool
Virtualization systems management software can be a critical piece in improving business agility in the modern business environment. That's become a top reason for adopting VSM software. Continue Reading
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